A slowdown in China, uncertainty in the U.K. and Europe, new bank regulatory requirements and an interest rate rise in the U.S. could prompt geo-political volatility that will affect trade, consumer prices and interest rates. This turbulence poses new challenges for the global real estate market. Yesterday’s strategies will not work in today’s rapidly changing world.

Competition for capital could become an issue as capital markets for commercial real estate have slowed down and the competition among certain providers of permanent CRE debt capital has become more intense. Although the lending environment will continue to become more restrictive, an increasing real estate technology boom combined with a robust demand for industrial, multi-family and retail properties and related financing activity are expected to continue to shape the market going forward.

Partnering alongside institutional investors, developers, owners, lenders and underwriters, our cross-functional team has led some of the most challenging and complex real estate transactions across the globe. Regardless of where our clients are located, we find innovative ways to help them achieve their strategic objectives. And in doing so, we help maneuver the political, regulatory, economic and technological challenges our clients may face.

Our team understands the specific needs of international investors, lenders, servicers, agent banks and borrowers in real estate debt products. The representation of equity investors is also key to our practice, as we regularly advise individual investors, joint ventures and investment funds. Clients rely on the experience of a team which pioneered the development of highly successful and sophisticated real estate financing techniques, including the first-ever corporate revolving credit facility for a Mexican FIBRA, the first-ever syndicated financing of a Japanese distressed debt portfolio and the first-ever subscription financing for a European real estate investment fund.

• Unibail-Rodamco SE | represented Unibail-Rodamco on its proposed $25 billion acquisition of Westfield Corporation. This transaction will create a global property leader with €61.1 billion (US$72.2 billion) of gross market value and a presence in 27 of the world’s most attractive retail markets and cities
• Moynihan Train Hall Redevelopment Project | represented the Department of Transportation on the $526 million financing of the construction of the Moynihan Train Hall Redevelopment Project in New York City. The project will help transform the James A. Farley Post Office Building to a modern, state-of-the-art train station and will deliver critical improvements and expansions that will ease congestion and delays in Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor rail service
• Digital Realty Trust | represented Citibank, N.A. in connection with $1.4 billion in senior unsecured bridge financing commitments and $104 million in secured financing commitments for Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s acquisition of DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. The all-stock transaction has an enterprise value of $7.6 billion
• SL Green Realty Corp. | represented a joint venture of SL Green Realty Corp. and Jeff Sutton affiliates with respect to an expansion of their leasehold at 650 Fifth Avenue in New York City and a simultaneous lease transaction with Nike, Inc. The building at 52nd Street is located on Fifth Avenue's most expensive retail strip
• Taikang Insurance Group | represented Taikang Insurance Group (Taikang) on the establishment of a joint venture with New York-based NorthStar Realty Finance Corp. (NorthStar). Through the joint venture, Taikang will acquire approximately US$1 billion interest at a valuation of US$6.1 billion in NorthStar’s existing portfolio of healthcare assets in the United States and the United Kingdom
• LaSalle Hotel Operating Partnership, L.P. | represented Citibank, N.A. and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. in connection with $1.05 billion in senior unsecured credit facilities for LaSalle Hotel Operating Partnership, L.P. The facilities include a $750 million revolving credit facility (with a letter of credit sub-facility) and a $300 million term loan facility
• Qatar Investment Authority | represented Qatar Investment Authority on its investment in Manhattan West, a development site valued upon completion at up to US$8.6 billion
• Major League Baseball & | represented the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball d/b/a Major League Baseball and MLB Advanced Media, L.P. with respect to the leasing of 400,000 rentable square feet of office space at 1271 Avenue of the Americas in New York City, a building owned by the Rockefeller Group
• Olayan America | represented Olayan America, a division of The Olayan Group, in connection with its $1.4 billion acquisition of the former Sony Building at 550 Madison Avenue in New York City. The firm also represented Olayan America for the financing portion of the acquisition, which included a $570 million mortgage from ING Capital LLC
• SL Green Realty Corp. | represented SL Green Realty Corp. in its $1.8 billion sale of 388-390 Greenwich Street to Citigroup Inc. The two combined buildings had been owned by the bank before it was sold to a partnership between SL Green and Ivanhoe Cambridge in 2007 for $1.6 billion, in a deal which included an option to buy the building back. The 2.7 million-square-foot office complex has been, and will continue to be, used as campus headquarters for Citigroup's divisions of Global Wealth Management and Global Trading
• General Growth Properties, Inc. | represented U.S. Bank National Association in connection with a $1.4 billion term loan to affiliates of General Growth Properties, Inc. secured by 15 shopping malls located in 14 states.
• Digital Realty Trust | represented Citigroup Global Markets Inc. in connection with Digital Realty Trust’s $3.55 billion global revolving credit facility and term loans.
• SportsNet New York | represented SportsNet New York in connection with a 15-year headquarters lease at 4 World Trade Center, which is part of the recently developed World Trade Center complex in Downtown Manhattan.
• Corporación Inmobiliaria Vesta | represented HSBC Bank, USA, N.A. and BBVA Bancomer in connection with $250 million in senior unsecured credit facilities for Corporación Inmobiliaria Vesta
• Fibra Prologis | represented Citibank, N.A., as Administrative Agent, in connection with a $400 million senior unsecured revolving credit facility for Fibra Prologis—the first-ever senior unsecured revolving credit facility for a FIBRA (a Mexican REIT)
• Independence Realty Trust | represented KeyBank National Association in connection with $300 million in senior unsecured credit facilities for affiliates of Independence Realty Trust, Inc. The credit facilities consist of a $50 million term loan and a $250 million revolving credit facility